The Saskatchewan Roughriders will be without Canadian defensive back Jaxon Ford when they visit the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for the annual Banjo Bowl on Saturday afternoon.
The 25-year-old native of Regina, Sask. was limited in practice on Thursday with a knee injury and was subsequently moved to the one-game injured list. The six-foot, 210-pound defender started last week’s Labour Day Classic at safety with Nelson Lokombo out of the lineup due to an ankle injury.
Defensive back Kosi Onyeka, who is in his fourth season with the Roughriders, will start in Ford’s place this weekend. The native of Brampton, Ont. joined the team as an undrafted rookie in 2022 and has since made four defensive tackles, 34 special teams tackles, and one forced fumble over 37 regular-season CFL games.
Ford was a second-round pick in the 2023 CFL Draft out of the University of Regina and has since recorded 19 defensive tackles and 11 special teams tackles over 31 career regular-season CFL games. His grandfather, Al Ford, won two Grey Cups with Saskatchewan — one as a player and one as the team’s general manager.
The Roughriders haven’t made any other changes to their lineup from last week’s win in the Labour Day Classic, save for promoting Canadian receiver Ajou Ajou to the starting lineup over Dhel Duncan-Busby.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders (9-2) will visit the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (6-5) at Princess Auto Stadium for the annual Banjo Bowl on Saturday, September 6 with kickoff slated for 4:00 p.m. EDT. The Roughriders beat the Blue Bombers in the Labour Day Classic this past weekend, fending off a late comeback attempt to win 34-30.
The weather forecast in Winnipeg calls for a high of 20 degrees with sunny conditions. The game will be broadcast on TSN in Canada and CFL+ internationally. Radio listeners can tune-in on 620 CKRM in Regina and 680 CJOB in Winnipeg.
